Hey guys! I have a good friend of mine that is a huge fan of Warhammer 40k, which he introduced to me. He knows that I am a huge Transformers fan (like, it's unhealthy) and has been interested in what the brand has to offer in terms of the lore. I tried to begin explaining the mythos to him but found that I did not know where to start. How do you think I should introduce him to the Transformers lore? I have some ideas but I would like to see what you guys would think and how I should go about it. Thanks!

 

Show him the G1 pilot, then the '86 movie and then move on to whatever you prefer. The Marvel Comics, Beast Wars, IDW, Animated, etc.

 

The original comics and cartoons are pretty dated and sub-par so I'd avoid those for starters unless you're going to direct your pal to the specific episodes and issues that deal with the lore and aren't kinda crappy.

Honestly, I think the best introduction to the lore for modern sensibilities and in terms of overall quality would be the live action movies.

Maybe a few specific issues of the original Marvel Comics run too, I guess.

And a few specific episodes of "Transformers: Prime" and "Transformers: Animated."

 

My Personal List, in this order:
-Headmasters Anime
-Machine Wars bios
-G2 "Cartoon"
-ZONE OVA
-Robotmasters Cartoon
-Energon
-Kiss Players Radio Drama
-All Four Bayformers movies at once

It is imperative you do this all in order.

 

My (Real) Personal List. In this order:

-G1 Season 1
-G1 Marvel Comics 1-4 miniseries
-Dreamwave G1 Prime Directive
-G1 Season 2
-The G1 Movie (of course)

From there, they should be good. If not, I recommend: primusprime22

 

I assume he already has a general idea of who Optimus and Megatron are, so I'd start with the 1986 animated movie.

 

86 movie is usually a good way to introduce folks.

I'd say Animated or Beast Wars would be good too.

Prime is one of those shows that probably appeals to newcomers more than older fans, so that probably would work well too.

 

Do NOT show him the Michael Bay films. That is the worst place to start.

Instead show him something like Animated or Beast Wars. that or the IDW comics.

 

Unfortunately the Bay movies are all that he knows about the franchise. He and his friend were talking today about how Transformers does not have that much of a lore and that basically all of the franchise consists of the movieverse. They have no idea...

 

I've made 7 different people start to read the Last Stand of The Wreckers followed by the More than Meets the Eye comics. They didn't know anything about TFs (appart from Optimus being a truck and a good guy and the gun guy being a not good one). They weren't interested in the franchise and even with reading those comics at first.
Now they all still read it, love it, talk about it, and very curious about other aspects of the franchise.

 

Honestly just play one of the G1 playlist that AeonMagnus has and see if that interests your friend. I also agree with showing some IDW comics.

 

The Marvel and Marvel UK comics might appeal to him, that british "feel" might be something he finds similar to the WH40K fiction.

 

Beast Wars or TFA are always my go-tos, but I'd also recommend the first "season" of IFW's MTMTE, specifically Shadowplay which deals a lot with the pre-war history.

 

i'd also recommend war within for a good pre-war/early war fanwank story.

 

I recommend the G1 cartoon and TFP

 

I've often wonder what watching Beast Wars would be like had I not seen the original cartoon first.

I personally would recommend Prime.

 

id say animated or prime, propbably animated first. iam a unicron trilogy kid and thats how i got into Transformers so that could be a decent start.

 

Hand him a cool toy. G1 Jazz. Follow that up with Movie HA Jazz a week later and a comic book adventure featuring Jazz. Just get the ball rolling and then there is tons of media to explore.

 

Ok, so I wouldn't show him the 1996 movie yet, cos prime dies. Show him the mtmte part 1,2 and 3 first and maybe some other g1 episodes. Then the movie. Good luck!  

 

Thanks for the responses, guys! I tried to introduce him to the IDW comics but one question led to another and I decided "you know what? How about we start with something a little more basic." I showed him the clip of Unicron transforming in the 1986 movie and he was impressed. Now he has just got to see the rest of the movie so that he knows what he has been missing out on.